IRL: ABC, ESPN, IRL and Indy 500 together for five more years

The Indy Racing League, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, ABC Sports, ESPN
and ESPN International announced today that they have entered into an
agreement to broadcast Indy Racing League events globally through 2009. The
announcement continues a...

The Indy Racing League, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, ABC Sports, ESPN
and ESPN International announced today that they have entered into an
agreement to broadcast Indy Racing League events globally through 2009. The
announcement continues a partnership between ABC and IMS that has lasted
four decades.

"Forty years ago," said IMS and Indy Racing League CEO Tony George, "the
Indianapolis Speedway and ABC Sports forged a partnership which today stands
as one of the most enduring of all in sport. In 1999, ESPN joined ABC
Sports as a partner in broadcasting the Indy Racing League events, and now
today ABC, ESPN and ESPN International together will extend their rights to
broadcast Indy Racing events globally through the year 2009. I'd like to
personally thank everyone at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indy
Racing League, ABC Sports and ESPN for their hard work to make this
possible."

The relationship has been enduring, beginning in 1965 with Wide World of
Sports delayed highlights, then same-day tape delay, and (since 1986) live
coverage. "To put it into context," said Loren Matthews, Sr. Vice President
for Programming for ABC Sports, "the Indianapolis 500 is certainly one of
our crown jewels. To tell you how long it has been on, it's been on longer
than college football, longer than the British Open, several years longer
than the British Open, several years longer than Monday Night Football, and
only two years behind the Little League World Series in terms of the length
of the relationship, which means we've gone through on the network side many
management changes. Tony has met more presidents of ABC Sports than I
have."

Mark Quenzel, Senior Vice President for programming and production for the
networks, pointed out that the relationship is more than just broadcast and
cable television. "From an ESPN perspective," he said, "most people say
'That's cable television.' I feel obligated to tell you, if you don't know,
it's not. It's all about dot com, magazine, radio and all the things that
we bring to the table. Obviously, on ABC Sports as well, we will hit racing
fans and sports fans wherever they live. We just found a piece of
information the other day that said that on a given week 94 million sports
fans are involved: touch ESPN media in some way, shape or form. That number
was astounding to me. Our goal here is to bring as many of those 94 million
people as we can to the Indy Racing League and let them experience what we
thin is extraordinarily competitive racing."

The Indianapolis 500 has always been an international event, and the
tradition continues with 14 of this year's 33 starters coming from outside
the United States. The broadcast partnership will bring this year's 500 to
205 countries worldwide, with 420 million potential viewers. Strategies to
capture a larger audience include adjusting the start time of the race match
the potential viewers, to increase coverage, including "lifestyle"
programming, and to appeal to younger viewers.

"We're committed to a number of specials," said Quenzel, "at least one of
which will be will be produced by our ESPN entertainment group, the same
group that produces the made-for-TV movies.

"I don't know that it makes sense necessarily to do weekly shows," he added.
"I think weekly shows preach to the converted. It's hard to sustain that
cutting edge with the younger viewer. We'd much rather concentrate on very
high-end shows that will promote, get out there, and try to reach a broader
audience."

For the rest of this year, and most of next year, the broadcast partners
plan to add an extra half hour to the race windows. With the extra time,
they will not have to jump off-air at the conclusion of events. More
stories can be told during the broadcasts. Commitment also remains to the
Infiniti Pro Series: all twelve of this year's races will be televised, as
will all twelve of next year's.